Whether things might have turned out different for then-undefeated Dublin Jerome if host Upper Arlington hadn't enjoyed such a strong start in a boys lacrosse match Wednesday, April 28, may be determined in some future rematch.

As it was, the Golden Bears (8-1) seized opportunity by the throat with both paws and jumped on the Celtics (9-1) with ferocity.

UA rushed to a 4-0 lead that swelled to 8-2 at halftime.

That was plenty of margin for the Bears to withstand the expected Jerome rally, and the Celtics absorbed their first loss of the year, 13-8.

"They definitely jumped out and were playing pretty aggressive defense," said Jerome coach AJ Auld.

"They got a couple of faceoffs early and came down and scored some goals. When you're playing from behind two, three, four goals, it gets the kids a little bit tight.

"Especially playing with a young group like we are."

The win was the fourth straight for UA since a historic 5-4 loss at Thomas Worthington April 17, the first time the Cardinals prevailed over the Bears since 1996.

"The loss to Thomas showed us that hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard," said UA coach Ted Wolford.

"We have to work hard every time out whether its a practice situation or a game situation. Tonight we played hard, we made a lot of good decisions with the ball, and fortunately some of those shots fell for us."

And fell, and fell, and fell, from Auld's point of view.

"Their guys were really finding corners tonight," he said. "I thought that was the best I've seen UA shoot. They were defintitely putting the ball where it needed to be."

"Their guys were on and they played very tough. We missed a couple of assignments defensively and that kind of snowballed a little bit."

Leading the Golden Bears' attack was senior Alex Powers, with three goals.

Notching two each were Tim Yuhas, Luke Treece and Spencer Parsons.

Senior Landon DelPrince collected the hat trick for Jerome, while Eric Ruhl had two goals.

Wolford spoke like a man who expects to meet up with the Celtics again.

"Jerome is a very good team," he declared.

"They're a talented team, they're a young team; they'll be very tough down the road."

According to the most recent LaxPower poll, Medina (9-0) is the No. 1-ranked team in the state.

Upper Arlington is second, Jerome third, and defending state tournament champion Worthington Kilbourne fourth.

Jerome visits New Albany Wednesday, May 5, while the Bears visit Kilbourne Tuesday, May 4. Both UA and Jerome will compete in the Midwest Scholastic Lacrosse Association tournament May 7-8 at Western Reserve Academy against to-be-determined opponents.

"I thought that was the best I've seen UA shoot. They were defintitely putting the ball where it needed to be."